King of Smears Chuck Johnson Claims Blurry Google Earth Image Proves NAACP Bomb Was a Hoax
Using the very latest in forensic science — Google Earth — blogger Charles C. “Chuck” Johnson (@ChuckCJohnson) claims a blurry image completely disproves reports of a bombing at the NAACP offices in Colorado Springs.
It never happened, he says, and he further suggests that the NAACP is deliberately lying, just because he knows stuff.
He ran this image on his website Gotnews yesterday. It’s a Google Earth image from September 2014.
He claims that this dark, semicircular smudge (L) near the corner of the building is the same as this one (below), which has been in real news sites all over the Internet, not to mention TV:
Taking the suggestion of one of his own commenters, I used Google Street View to image the same portion of the building. This is a screencap.
Here we can see the same semicircular smudge near the northeast corner of the building that’s in Johnson’s lame Google Earth image. Both are from September 2014.
Here’s a blow-up of the smudge, from my screencap.
If we examine these images dispassionately, there are some inconsistencies. First, the shapes of the smudges from the bombing attempt and the Google photos are not quite the same. In the Denver Post image, there is a semicircular smudge, but just to the right of it is another, smaller smudge. It is not visible in Johnson’s Google Earth image, and the tree in my Google Street View obscures that part of the building.
Further, the Post’s image seems to show the smudges are further from the corner of the building than either Google image.
If we only had these images as evidence, these discrepancies would not be conclusive in any way, I grant. But there is other evidence, which Johnson conveniently ignores in order to support his “no crime here, move along” agenda.
From the Denver Post:
An improvised explosive device was detonated against the exterior wall of a building housing the Colorado Springs chapter of the NAACP on Tuesday, officials said.
The explosion knocked items off the office walls but no one was injured.
Agents from the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives went to the scene after the blast to gather evidence and place markers.
The FBI said that a gasoline can was placed next to the device but the contents did not ignite.
According to the the FBI, officials are seeking a “potential person of interest,” described as a balding white male, about 40 years old.
So, what other evidence is there, CSI fans?
- A loud noise, reported by several people in the area and inside the building
- Objects knocked off the interior walls
- A gas can, recovered by police
- An incendiary device of some kind, recovered by police
- Eyewitness accounts
- A suspect
In my book, all of this evidence points to a clear attempt to set off a bomb of some kind outside the building. Trying to use blurry Google images to prove there it was all faked defies all common sense and forensic science.
Besides, where was Johnson when he posted this hardhitting BREAKING, EXCLUSIVE scoop? In fucking Fresno, California. This is a guy who posted that the DENVER police said there was no bombing, that the DENVER police said it was no big deal.
Yo, moron, Colorado Springs is not Denver! It’s 70 miles away. Different cities, like Fresno and Sacramento, only better.
Then, he suggests the NAACP faked the whole incident, and insinuates an ex-con employee of the organization might have had something to do with it.
Slimeball.
Given the choice between trusting “Award Winning Journalist” Chuck Johnson and the combined expertise of the C. Springs police, the FBI and the ATF, I’ll go with the experts. They at least know where the fuck Colorado Springs is.
And whether North Korea hacked Sony, and Virginia Roberts stood next to Prince Andrew in 2001.